Cheating?

Can praying improve your reasoning? I once questioned a student about his suspicious behavior during a logic examination. He confessed that he was praying for the correct answer. I felt this was cheating. Even if God did not give him the answer, the student was soliciting the answer from Someone Else.

– Dartmouth philosopher Roy Sorensen, in A Brief History of the Paradox, 2003

This gave me a chuckle. It sounds more like an excuse to me, I mean, who prays for the right answer, huh? .... exactly!

Replies to This Discussion

I'm sure I prayed to remember an answer that I didn't study hard enough for, but it certainly wasn't a clasped hand, closed eye, "please help me remember, god" kinda thing. I was only hoping the answer popped in my head and also showed me all I had to do was properly prepare for tests. Love the idea of having secular kids study and telling the religious kids to pray for divine intervention in the way of answers. Ain't gonna happen! (Receiving answers from above, that is...........)

I used to pray for snow days, or fire drills, or anything to get me out of this test (especially algebra). I never prayed for answers. I just didn't think God would know algebra any better than me I guess.

If I had thought about it at all, I probably would have thought algebra was of Satan anyway. Just because of the torture. BTW this was 1967 and I have and have passed on a math disablity. I was always told I was just lazy and stupid by teachers.

On a test in school, if student multiple guesses it and gets "lucky" and says "god did it" is stupid to say the least and the mind set to accept that as real, is beyond me. Oh well... BUT I don't want someone that builds airplanes, performing surgery or anything technical and life dependent, praying how to build, operate or assemble any machinery that needs very exact answers, or to guess or pray for the specifications of a airplane, skyscraper or how to perform heart surgery.

- If god is your co-pilot let him fly the plane.

Just recently a friend of mine, beautiful girl only 25, needs to have heart surgery for something that killed her mother at 27. Leading up to her operation, on Facebook, she made some statements about how she knows she'll be safe because Jesus is "by her side" and is pre-thanking Jesus and pals. So many comments and prayers, to all the deities, saints, and even a few others of a new age type....NOT ONE (till me) said thanx to all the scientists, biologist, medical people and all the researchers, that allow the technology to allow her to live longer...Jesus never designed a pace-maker.

It bothers me (exactly the same- only different, lol) when people say when you create something (art and music in my case), it's not you that creates it, "god gave you that" or "does it through you", They say "your so blessed to be able to do that". Fuck that. I worked damn hard, practicing 3-10 hours almost daily since I was 10, plus gigs, learning music theory and more styles of music than most people can name.

You wouldn't believe the stuff they believe!!!- They're like the Red Queen that has to believe 100 impossible things before breakfast-

No hoping/wishing/praying you guess correctly because you didn't study the night before is not cheating.

Asking an imaginary friend for answers is not even thought of as sane, unless you call it religion.

If your imaginary friend's name is Herbert or Henryetta - nut house for you...but if your imaginary friends name is Jesus or Mohamed...or the saints, jinns, and any of the whole panoply of sprites, imps, angels, and more other creatures of make believe listed in "holy" books...that's OK?

That's great! I never thought of praying before or during exams as cheating before, but as someone who teaches college in Mississippi, I sure see a lot of it. I find it very difficult not to laugh out loud when I see the clasped hands and earnest mumbling. But if it helps them relax somehow, more power to them I guess.